How new technology has boosted female entrepreneurship

Economic opportunities for women have expanded globally, but significant obstacles to gender equality ‒ including the gender pay gap ‒ still remain.

Platforms like Airbnb are creating new opportunities for enterprising women, enabling them to open their homes to guests or create experiences showing off their neighbourhood or unique skills to earn some additional income.

“Since Airbnb’s founding in 2008, our community has pioneered the development of the global sharing economy. We’re proud that female Airbnb hosts earned have earned around $20 billion in the last 10 years ‒ across homes and experiences ‒ through our platform. Half of that was in 2016/2017 alone,” explains Velma Corcoran, Country Manager for Airbnb South Africa.

“Historically, women hosts have outnumbered men hosts around the world. UN Women actually points to the sharing economy as one transformation that can be leveraged to have a positive impact for women. Our platform is powered by a growing worldwide community of female hosts who are connecting with guests, each other, and their local communities.”

Along with women sharing their homes on Airbnb, there are many incredible women-led Experiences on offer across the platform. Many female entrepreneurs are launching their business ideas on the Airbnb Experiences platform and this global community of women hosts continues to grow.

According to recent data from Airbnb, women make up 63% of the South African host market. This number is expected to rise thanks to widespread awareness of the platform locally, and with Airbnb Experiences now open to submissions from hosts across the country.

With the recent launch of Airbnb Experiences in Johannesburg, Victoria Adasonia, took the opportunity to launch a Social Impact Experience in support of her NGO, Woman with a Mission, which creates opportunities for women to become entrepreneurs and offers mentorship and guidance.

Victoria started hosting her “Explore local shops with a stylist” Experience on Airbnb in June, and takes guests on a journey to better understand fashion and the role it plays in building self-confidence, while discovering local shops. A highlight of the tour, she says, is meeting one of Nelson Mandela’s personal tailors.

With money raised through her Experience, Victoria is able to help more women build their confidence through workshops and seminars, life coaching and more. She has also encouraged other women ‒ who are part of her foundation ‒ to sign up to become Airbnb hosts to find a new source of income. Another great example of women hosts supporting other women to become entrepreneurs is Philisine’s Zulu language Experience. By building awareness of the cause through her Experience on the Airbnb platform, she hopes to attract more successful women as mentors to raise and build other women and communities.

“This technology really creates opportunities. We can do what we love to do. I don’t feel like I’m working a typical nine to five job. It’s also really helped us to spread the word about what we do. It has been a challenge to raise money for Woman with a Mission. Now we have an office, staff, and we are able to make money, raise awareness and create more opportunities for women,” Victoria explains.

Meanwhile in the Bo-Kaap, Fayruza opens her home for a Cape Malay cooking experience incorporating delicious food, history, culture, great company and a lot of laughs. Her Airbnb Experience is so popular that it has earned her over 100 five-star reviews on the platform.

“My Experience is about showcasing community, and sharing food and culture in my bustling family home. People love that it’s about the food, but they also love that my family come and join us and help fold samoosas and make curry. And for me, I feel like I’m travelling without leaving home,” she says.

Formerly an air steward for 14 years, before a career in senior management for a security company, Fayruza took ill a couple of years ago and decided to scale back her career in favour of a less stressed lifestyle.

“Becoming an Airbnb Experience host has been a personal journey for me. I made a conscious decision to change my life and pursue what I love, which has always been food. But I’m a single mom, so I needed to work. My niece suggested I rent out my spare room through Airbnb and that’s when I discovered the Experiences platform. My family home is big and I love entertaining and love having people around my table so I thought ‘I can do this’,” she explains.

“I’ve been able to stay at home since September, working how I want and when I want. I will be on medication for the rest of my life and I will always need to watch my stress levels, but Airbnb has given me a quality of life I’ve never had before.”

For Airbnb host, Ntsiki, Airbnb Experiences was the platform she needed to forge her own career as a tour guide, having worked for tour companies previously. Her “deep Soweto experience” shows both the tourist side and the “not so touristy” side of the township.

“I noticed a lot of companies are doing an injustice to Soweto, showcasing it as if it’s dependent on our history. I try to mix the history with the current for a true experience of Soweto,” she says.

“I didn’t want to just do the same tours every day with a company. I wanted to grow and work on my own set of rules. I don’t want to sound like a book or audio guide. With Airbnb, I am myself and I tell my story. Soweto is like writing a story every day. When you are here you become part of the story.”

Ntsiki is also taking part in the Airbnb Africa Academy, a new initiative to support people from rural and under-resourced communities across South Africa. It provides local hosts with the education and tools needed to create listings on Airbnb’s platform by sharing their spare room, entire home or a unique Experience, thus playing a healthy and inclusive role in South African tourism.

The Airbnb Africa Academy is part of Airbnb’s Africa Travel Summit which will bring 150 innovators in tourism and tech together in Cape Town this September to share, discuss and debate how technology can be used to accelerate inclusive and sustainable economic growth through tourism on the African continent.

This August, let’s celebrate women across South Africa who are creating opportunities for themselves, equipping other women with the tools to do the same, and using their knowledge and resources to show both locals and visitors a unique take on South Africa by sharing their homes, talents and passions on Airbnb.

Edited by Neo Sesinye
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